Friday, 29 July 2011

Would you look at us, another weekly round-up only a week after the last one, we're getting good at this. We've got various things on offer to you this week for your reading pleasure. Before we move on, just a quick reminder that Mark Stevenson's 'An Optimist's Tour of the Future' talk fast approaching so make sure you've made a note in your diary, second Wednesday of the month as always. Have a look over there to the right of the page for further details. Here's what you've been waiting for:

Tuesday, 26 July 2011

One of the problems with doing a podcast is that you get to
hear your own voice a lot. Each episode takes a surprisingly long time to edit
and it can be tortuous if, like me, you’re not keen on hearing yourself speak.
One of the things that I’ve noticed about myself is a tendency to enthuse, to
pronounce things frequently to be “Fantastic” or “Brilliant” like that Paul Whitehouse character from the Fast Show.

This is partly inevitable given that I tend to pick subjects and people about
which I am genuinely interested and excited. So it comes out in my attitude.
The problem comes when you tackle a subject like the Atlas Experiment. How can
you talk about the biggest and coolest experiment in the world without slipping
into superlatives?

I had the privilege to talk to physicist
Steve Goldfarb who works at the Atlas Experiment. The excitement of those working
on this is almost palpable as they push at the frontiers of what we know. There
is a real sense of a continuum of knowledge as they build on the legacy of earlier
physicists and scientists adding to our understanding of the origins and
workings of the universe.

The Atlas Experiment is the largest particle detector at the Large Hadron Collider. As billions of protons clash within the detector they gather the data
from the most likely suspects and piece together the evidence searching for
what might or might not be there to answer some of the most fundamental
questions about matter and the universe.

Everything about this project is astounding. From the magnificent physical
scale of the mechanical equipment to the the subatomic stature of the objects observed and the breathtaking scope of the possibilities within its reach, it is amazing.
Not everyone feels the same about particle physics I know. Have a look at these
comments from the Fox News website, brought to my attention by @kashfarooq.

Thankfully though the human race will continue to progress thanks to science
and scanner101 andflowerpotwill be able to reap the benefits regardless.

The other great thing that you get from talking to Steve isn’t just the
passion for the project but the insight of what it's like to be one of the the community. They’re people that work hard but they also play hard. It’s a working,
living group of people. For instance one of the things that Steve does in his spare time
is to play in a blues band called the Cannettes. They play traditional blues
but they’ve managed to combine their love of physics and music in some of
their songs. I’ve included a copy of The
Atlas Boogie at the end of the podcast, but it’s well worth having a look at
the video. Listen to the podcast and enjoy the video embedded below.

Patrick Redmond- Born in Stoke and moved the vast distance to live in Birmingham. He is one of the organisers of Birmingham Skeptics in the Pub

Many moons ago David Gregory, the West Midlands BBC Science Correspondent came
to talk to us about science and the media. One of the points he made was how fringe or irrational ideas are often given too much time and space in a mistaken idea of balance.
It seems he’s not the only one to think this as this piece from the Guardian illustrates.

In that previous post Andy mentions the use of Honey on wounds and it’s
interesting to cross reference that with another blog post that came out recently
by podcaster and Science Based Medicine contributor Mark Crislip entitled simply Honey. Could it be
Quackometer vs. Quackcast?

If the unlikely combination of camping, water sports and humanist/skeptical type
activities appeals to you, check out Questival. A great event in a beautiful
area for all you active free thinkers. They’ve even got SitP favourite Matt
Parker there. You can listen to an interview with one of the organisers on our upcoming
podcast. Check the webpage soon to see when it’s been uploaded and to listen to
past episodes.

Finally, it’s not exactly skepticism but it’s a great story. At our jam packed
Skeptics in the Pub with Jon Ronson he amused the crowd with this tale of the worst swear word in the world. We’ll leave the last word with Jon’s son.

This weeks round up was put together by Patrick Redmond (@paddyrex) with help from others that contributed suggestions.

Monday, 18 July 2011

Members of the Korean Chiropractic Association in South Korea are in
uproar at the scrutiny of their profession, after an investigation of formal
Chiropractic clinics by local health authorities has led to more legal
proceedings. Taeg Su Choi, KCA president since 2003, who has faced five
prosecutions himself since that time, claims the proceedings are a result of
complaints from two of South Korea's professional medical associations, the Korean
Medical Association and the Oriental Medical Doctors' Association.

Disputes about the Chiropractors have been ongoing since its introduction in
the 1990's when South Korea's first Chiropractor, Yong Serb, returned after
attending the Palmer College of Chiropractic in the USA. Serb, the founder and
first president of the Korean Chiropractic Association has been convicted three
times for breaking South Korean laws.

Under the law, It is illegal for independent Chiropractors to practise. If you
were a Medical Doctor who took some seminar classes in Chiropractic or similar
manipulative therapies, you could legally practice those techniques, however,
someone who just went to a Chiropractic college in America, the UK, or
Australia could not legally practice in Korea.

According to the World Federation of Chiropractic, the Korean Chiropractic
Association once had over 60 members, which has since fallen to 17 as a result
of the convictions of so many of its members. On 30th June 2011 a
World Federation of Chiropractic media release explained the argument used in
defence of their practice at appeals at the Constitutional Court: "Their
argument has been that Koreans have a constitutional right to choose and
receive natural forms of health care that relieve pain and suffering, and that
Chiropractors have a constitutional right to offer those services."

Appeals from the Members of the KCA claim that the law is unconstitutional,
however, while this defence erroneously characterizes the law as being
"anti-Chiropractic", South Korean law doesn't state that Chiropractic
is illegal. Rather, the law states Chiropractors can't practice their
techniques unless they're qualified Medical Doctors.

The issue of right to choice has been the crux of many appeals by
"alternative" health advocates, and in South Korea Chiropractors are
not alone, with Acupuncturists also feeling the sting dealt out by the courts
for not practising within the law.

... apparently, robust evidence-based medical training is too much to ask in
other parts of the world too.

Bayani
Mills is an amateur skeptic with an interest in science and technology. More of
his promotion of critical thinking and skeptical activism can be found at his
website.

Friday, 15 July 2011

A very warm welcome to the second weekly round-up that has appeared in
a row, a trend we hope to be continuing. Included is a load of stuff that we've
unearthed from the web this week for your perusal and delectation. Some of it's
fun, some of it's funny, some will make you cheer. Oh, by the way, some may
make you a little bit stabby (sorry about that).

First up we have a survey or two, almost identical, but with
startlingly different expected results:-

The first, posted
by persons unknown poses a series of leading questions about the

Saturday, 9 July 2011

Hello everybody and welcome to the return of the Birmingham
Skeptics’ rather inaccurately named Weekly Round-Up where we scour the web for
interesting stories and sites for your delectation. Well, it’s accurate in that
the stories and links are ones that we’ve come across in the last week but
inaccurate in that the last one of these was over a month ago. Still, some
things are worth the wait and we’ll do our best to get back on track with
regular updates from now on.

There can be only one place to
start and unless you’ve been participating in sensory deprivation tests in some
remote lab over the last week you’ve probably come across Elevatorgate. It
began with one woman, Rebecca Watson, based on her experience at a conference
(and undoubtedly at other points of her life) politely requesting that men
think about their thoughts and actions towards women and to not be creepy. Then
it got a whole lot bigger! At all stages of this there has been a lot of debate
with some surprise interventions and Rebecca provides a great round up and
explanation on her blog.

PZ Myers brought some brilliant
work by Biologist Phil Senter to our attention. Creation scientists (Oxymoron
Alert!) use methods and publishing practices that make what they do look like science.
Rather than dismissing them, Senter treats them seriously and goes on to hoist
them by their own petard.

The next one isn’t a blog but is a
lovely lovely site. The representation of data doesn’t have to be linear and
boring and with a bit of imagination and talent stunning effects can be
created. That’s how they work over at Information is Beautiful. Have a look at their
visualisation called Snake Oil? You may disagree with some of the conclusions,
but that’s fine, read down to the bottom and you’ll see it’s a wonderfully
fluid diagram that can adapt to change as new evidence presents itself. This one requires flash to view but there’s a
link on the page to other wonderful visualisations.

This post comes courtesy of the
excellent PodBlack. It’s a tragic tale involving a psychic that makes you want
to scream at the sheer stupidity of the situation and at the same time renders you
speechless. The post is suitably understated leaving you lots of room for
reflection.

It’s more than a week old but that’s
not going to stop us including Jourdemayne’s hugely entertaining and
interesting post on the Vampires of Rhode Island. I think we’re going to have
to try and tempt this talented person to Birmingham Skeptics in the Pub very
soon.

If you’re one of our regulars at
Birmingham Skeptics in the Pub you’ll have noticed how popular we’re becoming.
Last month’s talk by Ash Pryce was pretty full and there’s a good chance this
month’s by Jon Ronson will be even more so. We’ve given a bit of thought as to
how best manage this so if you’re planning on coming take a look here.

The space shuttle is on its last
mission and we bid it a sad and fond farewell. It’s been a long road and you
can look back over the history of the shuttle and follow the last days of the
current mission over at the NASA website.

Thursday, 7 July 2011

These
have been exciting times for us here at Birmingham Skeptics. We’ve had
some brilliant talks over the last few months, word is getting around
the midlands and as a result our talks have been getting more and more
popular. Those who were at Ash Pryce’s excellent ‘How to be a Psychic
Conman’ show will have noticed how popular it’s become.On
top of this, we’ve got the amazing Jon Ronson doing his talk ‘The
Psychopath Test’ for us next week (13th July) at The Victoria. We’re
really looking forward to it, and, looking at the numbers that have
responded on Facebook, lots of other people from around the area are
too.As
a result of this, we’ve decided that we need to be a little more
organised

Birmingham Skeptics in the Pub meet on the second Wednesday of the month for a speaker. We will often meet at other times too for extra talks, socials and events. Follow our social media or go to our .org site to make sure you know what's happening.